Night Rain
by antilogicgirl
Summary: Tragedy strikes just before a lengthy undercover mission, putting the 4man jounin team in danger. Kakashi has to deal with information gathering, and a partner who doesn't trust him: Hori Amaya.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** **_IMPORTANT TO READ THIS FIRST_**

After a very long wait and endless editing, I finally feel as if the first chapter of this is ready for posting. I hope you like it. This is the long-put-off sequel to my first ever fanfiction. The original story, "A Cloud for Konoha," was published nearly a year ago, I believe, on narutofic . net. The story is only 9 chapters long. So if you're starting here, you might want to read it first. I'll warn anyone who looks at it that it is a bit rough, and I still am itching to edit it. But as it stands, it's decent. Now, to my lovely notification system! Warnings:

FL--Amaya's mouth is rather less than squeaky clean, and Sasuke's isn't, either.

SS--Suggestive situation/inebriation

V--No actual violence in this chapter, but there's a LOT of blood in the first scene. So, don't say I didn't warn you.

For those of you who HAVE read the preceeding story, and are wondering where the title for this one comes from, Amaya's name means "night rain." I just like the sound of it. Things to have fun with in this chapter: drunken Amaya and Kakashi, flashback to Amaya's first meeting with Kakashi oh-so-many years back, and a very shocked Sasuke.

**Legal Stuffiness:** I do not own Naruto. Kishimoto Masashi, sole proprietor, and he owns my soul.

* * *

**Night Rain

* * *

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**Chapter 1:** Delayed Departure

"No, Amaya-san." Kiba blinked at her from the doorway of his apartment. "I haven't seen him." She was starting to get worried. Kabuto hadn't come home from the hospital. He was working the graveyard shift, from ten at night until six in the morning. It was eight now, and she still hadn't found him. "If I see him, I'll tell him you're looking."

"Thank you, Kiba." She walked down the six flights of stairs to the ground floor, then into the street. Where was he? She wandered the streets, looking for him. Amaya was supposed to go on her mission with Kakashi, Sasuke-chan, and Shizune this morning, and he had promised that he would be home before nine when she had to be ready. Amaya had all of her gear in a pack, and she was dressed in a yellow yukata with a bright red obi that had white cloud patterns on it, ready to start the year-long undercover mission. They were to gather intelligence on Akatsuki as it passed through the Wave Country

A year away from Kabuto…it would be a challenge. She wasn't happy about it, but she could live. She would be entertained, to say the least. Sasuke-chan and Shizune were supposed to be brother and sister. That was believable, since they pretty much looked alike. She was supposed to be their cousin, and Kakashi her husband. Oh, but she chuckled at that. A year of being "married" to Hatake Kakashi would be either hell on Earth, or very amusing. The dark-haired Jounin stopped by the bakery and bought a bun for her breakfast. Wherever Kabuto was, he was going to hear it when she found him. She was leaving for a year, and he was nowhere to be found! Eating slowly as she grumbled to herself, she wandered the streets of Konoha, on the off chance that he was lurking around the pub, or lazing somewhere.

She walked for a while, fuming about how her husband was not to be found. Glancing down a cross-street, she noticed Genma, Ibiki, and Asuma standing in the opening of one of the alleys near the Hokage Tower. Curious, she walked over. A sickening smell came to her nose when she was five meters away from them. Her footfalls echoed in the street, and Genma turned. His eyes widened, and he stepped forward, holding out a hand for her to stop. "Sorry, Amaya. You can't go any further."

"Why?"

"You shouldn't see this." The Special Jounin remained where he was, but shifted his feet nervously.

"What shouldn't I see?" Amaya was getting one of her feelings again, her voice shaking and suspicious. She swallowed audibly.

Genma began chewing on his senbon, teeth making clicking noises against the metal. He only ever did that when he was extremely agitated. "Kabuto…he's been killed."

Her hands balled up into fists. Amaya was definitely not in the mood for his idiot humor this morning. "Don't joke about that sort of thing, Genma."

Ibiki turned to face her, and stood next to Genma. "He's not joking, Amaya. Kakashi put a barrier over the place. No one can get in."

* * *

Kakashi's eye narrowed. When he heard Amaya's voice, he called to the others, "Don't let her anywhere near here!" He looked back up the alleyway, to where Genma, Ibiki, and Raido were holding Amaya. Ibiki had begun disarming her (and that would take a good two or three minutes to get everything), while Genma made sure to hold her arms. Raido was trying to calm her down. She was trying desperately to get closer to the body he was standing over. There was blood. Everywhere. Kakashi raised his forehead protector, and used the Sharingan to study the scene. He shook his head. If he didn't know for sure that it was him, he never would have guessed that the mutilated corpse on the ground was once Yakushi Kabuto. Amaya had just gotten there, and Kakashi knew that if his barrier had not been in place, she would be right there at the dead man's side, and that was something he could not allow. He didn't want her disturbing the scene. "Genma, take her home."

The female Jounin muttered curses over her shoulder at him as Genma led her away. He crouched next to where Kabuto's torso used to be. He had never seen this kind of damage before. Ever. There was nothing left of his stomach, most of his spine, or his chest. It was as if someone had detonated a bomb in his midsection. The odd thing was, his face wasn't recognizable, either. The man's face had been all but scoured away. It was altogether one of the most gruesome things Kakashi had ever witnessed. And there were absolutely no clues as to what happened.

Now, their mission was going to be postponed until after the funeral, but maybe that was a good thing. Amaya was in no shape to go anywhere. If he knew her, she was already plotting revenge. She was just as bad as Sasuke. Sighing, he scrubbed his hands through his hair. He was getting a headache. "Damn, this sucks." Pinching the bridge of his nose, he waited for the medic nins to arrive. Then he could go to Amaya's house. He hadn't exactly been fond of the recently deceased man, really. And he certainly didn't think he deserved to be married to Amaya, but this was no way for a human being to die, and he couldn't look at it and not feel compassion.

"Kakashi-san," He turned toward the voice. Seeing that the medics had arrived, he dispelled the barrier. "You are dismissed." The medic nins moved in to clean up the mess and take Kabuto's remains for autopsy. Careful not to step in the blood, Kakashi moved slowly out of the alleyway. There was no way he was going to be forgetting that sight any time soon. As he walked down the street, hands in his pockets, he wondered about what could have caused such damage. Then, it was just a lot easier not to think. His mind would wander into areas it shouldn't. Images of Obito and Rin always floated to the surface, as did those of the Yondaime. He missed them all.

Now, Amaya was in the same boat that he was in, but not for the first time. Her parents' deaths were in the past, but the scars still hurt her every now and again. She was hard, he knew. But sometimes the hardest people were the easiest to break. It would take a lot to keep her from ending up like he nearly did. In the end, he had to completely re-invent himself, just to keep from going absolutely insane. He would be the first to admit that he wasn't _wholly_ sane, oh, far from it. But he had enough sanity left to know right from wrong, and duty from what he should not do. That was enough for him, for the most part.

* * *

_It was him. It was Kabuto. He was dead. He was mutilated. Before he had been killed, he had been chained to the dumpster in the alley, his mouth taped shut. There wasn't much of him left. His torso was nearly gone. It looked like he had either been mauled by a wild animal, or someone had set off explosives in his stomach. There was blood everywhere. The ground was soaked with it. His hair was soaked with it. The walls of the alley were painted in the now brownish black stuff. And the smell…_

_Turning aside, she emptied her stomach of what little she had eaten and collapsed to the ground. He was dead. Kabuto was dead. She started to shake, and suddenly felt cold. Someone had held her back from him, and they were going to pay for that. Her head spun, and she wretched again, but there was nothing left. The swaying motion of her vision became more pronounced, she saw no more._

Amaya opened her eyes from the dream, and looked around, only to find Hatake Kakashi sitting in a chair nearby. She sat up, the sheets falling away from her. He looked over at her with a relieved expression in his visible eye. Apparently, she'd had him worried. In a very small voice, she said, "Who killed him?"

"We don't know."

A muscle below her right eye twitched and her voice lowered to a grating tone. "Don't give me that, Kakashi. My husband is dead." She wanted to yell, scream, and throw things, but she just didn't have the energy. Her head was killing her, and the image of Kabuto's face—or lack thereof—kept popping up. "Damn, I need a fucking drink." She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and stood up. After getting over the initial head rush, she walked into the kitchen. Kakashi's footsteps followed her. Taking out a large bottle of vodka, she set it on the table, along with a paring knife, the sugar jar, a basket of lemons, and the ice bucket from the freezer. The last thing she got was the cocktail mixer.

"Are you sure this is healthy?" His voice was full of concern.

"Other than the alcohol and the sugar, yes." She was surprised at the fact that she could make a joke. "What time is it?"

"Five fifteen."

"Good. Not breaking my rule. Would you like a drink?" She asked, filling the shaker with ice. He shook his head. "Your loss. Grab that shot glass from the top of the refrigerator, will you?" He did, and she thanked him. She knew that she was just in denial or something similar, but she couldn't help it. The plain fact was that right now, Amaya really _needed_ to get so drunk she couldn't see straight. She cut the first lemon into quarters, and then coated the pieces with sugar. As she did this, she thought that if it had been Naruto, she would be the same way. When people she cared for died, she lost a lot of brain cells. When her parents had been murdered on Orochimaru's orders, she'd drank herself into the hospital. It didn't occur to her to find it odd that she would grieve as much for Naruto as she would for her husband. After pouring a healthy amount of vodka into the shaker, she put the lid on and shook it once, then poured the chilled stuff into the glass.

Amaya picked up the small glass, and drank off the contents, immediately after which, she took up the first lemon and bit it, sucking the sour sweetness, and feeling the healing burn of alcohol. She closed her eyes, savoring the sensation. Then, she poured another and repeated the process.

* * *

Kakashi watched her as she drank. It wasn't a healthy way to deal with death, but then again, he had had to deal with it in ways that were less than sane, so who was he to talk? "You sure you don't want any?" She asked, cutting up another lemon, having drank off four shots.

"All right. But sit down, will you?" She set the glass in front of him while she sugared more lemon slices. It had been years since he had even tasted alcohol. The slightly thick liquid started pouring into the glass, and he remembered that vodka was one of the few kinds of liquor that he had never tried in his earlier binges. She sat across from him, and pushed a lemon slice at him. He did as she had, very stealthily pulling his mask away and replacing it before Amaya could notice that he had done anything at all, and found that it burned, but not too much. It was actually quite a pleasant feeling.

Two hours later…

There was only about an inch of vodka in the bottle. Amaya had no lemons left. They had been speed-shooting straight un-chilled vodka for the past hour, and Kakashi knew very well that he was plastered. Amaya seemed better off. She was talking. What was she saying? Something about Kabuto…

"I didn't like 'im at first, ya know. He was…icky. He watched me while I was naked, 'Kashi. Fuckin' gave me the creeps." She leaned across the table at him. "He was real cute, though." Her voice lowered, and she looked around, as if she were searching for anyone else who might hear. "Good in bed, too. He was kinda kinky." She laughed, holding her sides. Then, she stopped and looked over at him, her eyes narrowing. "Feh. I bet yer kinky, too. Hide yer face all the time, and I can't tell what yer thinkin'. That bugs me, ya know?"

"Hm? What does?" He was _so_ articulate. But in his drunken opinion, that left them about even. She wasn't making any sense. How did his mask make him kinky?

"That I never seen yer face. It bugs the fuck outta me." She got up on her knees from the low table and shuffled over to him. "Take it off." It wasn't really a request. There was a drunkenly determined curiosity in her eyes. His thoughts were hazy, but not _that_ hazy. Warning bells started going off in his head. She obviously wasn't as good at holding her liquor as he had originally thought.

Plunking herself down on his right side, her hands started reaching for his mask. Kakashi caught them, and held them at her sides. She pouted—actually _pouted_—at him. "You're drunk. You need sleep. This isn't healthy." She struggled against him, and finally freed herself. Then she went for the mask again. After repeating the process several times, he finally had enough. Kakashi grabbed both of her wrists, and shoved her backward, so that she fell onto her back. He pinned her to the floor, her hands above her head. His legs held hers down so that she couldn't use those long, smooth weapons against him, either. "Curiosity killed the cat," he slurred, "You really don't want to do that."

"But I do. Have since we first met." His eyes widened when he remembered their first meeting. That had been before she'd been abducted from the Earth Country and taken to Otogakure. It had been in the bar down the street from his apartment.

* * *

_She walked into the bar, wearing a tight black dress that let everyone in the place know that she was definitely not wearing anything underneath it. Of course, being Kakashi, he ogled her just like the other men in the room, but it had not been the curves of her body he was interested in. She had a way of holding herself, showing tension while trying to seem relaxed, biting her lip slightly, glancing nervously around the room. Twisting a long black strand of hair between her fingers, she walked—no, she flowed—up to the bar and ordered a drink: cranberry juice and vodka, with a twist of lime. Kakashi sipped his warm sake, each time stealthily pulling his mask down and then back up again. He watched her, rather openly._

"_Can I help you?" she asked him, her tone a little sharp._

"_Nani? Oh, no. I'm just admiring your dress." He sounded rather lame, he knew. But he had the habit, when drinking, of speaking nothing but the truth. He stuck out his hand. "Hatake Kakashi."_

_The dark haired beauty turned on her stool, legs crossed, and cocked an eyebrow at him. Then she took his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Kakashi-san. My name is Hori Amaya. Mind if we go somewhere to talk? I mean, some place more…private?" The bartender had just handed her the drink she'd ordered, and she downed it, then licked her lips slowly. Kakashi's eyes widened. Was he getting hit on? Sometimes he couldn't tell. Amaya leaned forward, and he nearly swallowed his tongue at the amount of cleavage that was revealed to him. "Please?" Now, Kakashi could be dense, at times. But no man on earth whose eyes actually worked was so dense that he couldn't get the message she was sending._

_Smiling broadly behind his mask, he said, "Well, when you put it that way, sure. Lead the way, Amaya-san." She did, and they walked into an alleyway. He soon found a kunai at his throat, and she was telling him that if he answered her questions, she wouldn't hurt him. He had snorted, and asked her where she kept the kunai. She'd nearly gutted him for that remark. It took a long moment, but he disarmed her. She was good_.

* * *

Had she wanted to see his face then? He thought of the old saying "_En vino, veritas_." Latin wasn't his strong suit, but that one had always stuck with him. It meant, "In wine, there is truth." Was this what she truly was like? She said that she didn't like Kabuto at first. That meant he must have grown on her. Did she really love him at all? Or, was she just grateful to him for helping her get rid of Orochimaru? All this went through his head as he stared down at her. She was nearly giggling. That was something he'd never seen her do.

"'Kashi, why're ya on me? If ya got them ideas in yer head, cut it out. Ya're not takin' advantage of me. 'Kay?" When did a blonde bimbo take possession of Amaya's body? Hell, she was squirming under him, in a way that was a little too pleasant. He thought for a short moment about what she said. The woman definitely was going to regret this conversation, and her actions. She simply wasn't the type to do anything like this.

"Amaya, if I let you up, will you stop?"

"Why do I needa stop?"

"Because. Your husband just died, and you're practically throwing yourself at me." He frowned behind his mask. She was really going to regret this conversation.

"So?" Kakashi blinked. What did she say? "If ya don' like it, fine. But ya do. I can tell." Her smile was innocent and lascivious at once. God, he needed to get away from her. As far as he was concerned, she was still married. It hadn't sunk in yet that Kabuto was dead, and once it did, she would be pure venom. He wasn't going to add to that by allowing himself to get wrapped up in any attraction he felt toward her, however great it was. He pushed himself away from her, and staggered backward as he stood.

"I'm going home."

She sat up, and snatched his foot out from under him. He fell to the floor, bouncing slightly on his bottom. "No yer not. Yer drunk too, even if ya don't talk funny."

He rubbed his now-sore backside. "I _am_ going home. You're drunk, and I'm drunk, and in the morning, you'll regret it if I let you do what I think you're trying to."

In the wisdom that only truly belongs to the drunk, she pointed out, "But _you_ wouldn't?" Her voice was slow, and she enunciated every word carefully. Momentarily, her slur returned as she said, "Yer inhibitchin's (1)mus' be real good, 'Kashi. Mine are asleep." She pulled his leg, hand-over-hand, like a rope to get him closer to her.

He scrambled backward until his shoulders connected painfully with the opposite wall. "Your inhibitions are dead, Amaya. You need sleep, not sex."

"Says you, 'Kashi. You dunno what I need." The look in her eyes was predatory, and he tried to press himself into the wall to get away from her. It wasn't working. _Damned wall. _Her yukata had long since become skewed, falling off of her right shoulder, and it only dislodged itself further as she pounced him, exposing pale skin over her collarbones and a good portion of the rest of her chest. Now straddling his hips, she wrapped both legs around him, trapping his arms at his sides. He blinked. How the hell had she done that? She smiled at him, wiggling her fingers in front of his face. "Look, 'Kashi. No hands!" This almost made him laugh. Almost.

Her wiggling fingers drew closer and closer to his mask, and he felt them grasp the fabric on either side of his nose. He swallowed audibly. She giggled. This was like being in hell, he was sure. He hated this. Sure, he was attracted to her. More than he wanted to be, but that wasn't the point! The point was that this was a _really_ bad idea, and he needed to be able to stop her, but couldn't. Her legs were wrapped around him, holding him like a vice. He was panting in anxiety, because no one ever saw him without his mask. Later, on the mission they were supposed to go on, she would have seen his face, but that was a mission.

This was completely different. She was drunk, her husband had just been murdered, and in her stupor, she was trying to gain some kind of comfort. Comfort he could deal with. That meant hugs and a nice talk over hot chocolate, not Amaya trying to rip his mask off, and probably his clothes too, and practically raping him. Kakashi's mind noted the use of the word 'practically,' and he cursed himself for the observation. He was not going to give in. He was shinobi. He had more control than this! But how could he have control when he was so helpless?

The cloth was yanked down, and the air felt cold on Kakashi's face.

"Amaya-onheesan! What the bloody fucking hell are you doing to Kakashi-sensei!" Shock and relief ran through Kakashi alternately as he turned his face toward the door to see Sasuke framed against the waning sunlight. The young Uchiha walked over to them and hauled Amaya to her feet. "Gomen, Kakashi. Whew!" Sasuke exclaimed, waving a hand in front of his face. "She's plastered!" Then he looked closer at Kakashi, narrowing his eyes. By this time, Kakashi had wisely pulled his mask back up. "So are you!" His voice lowered to an Uchiha growl. "What's going on here, you two?"

Pushing himself up the wall in order to stand and not fall down, Kakashi said, "I had Genma carry her here after we found Kabuto, then I came to watch out for her. She woke up from being passed out, and then started drinking. I had some too. Then she jumped me." That made Amaya giggle. Sasuke's eyes widened at the sound. "She's been like that for about twenty minutes now." Kakashi pointed at her, indicating her state of mind and demeanor.

"Sasuke-chan, why do ya gotta be a party-pooper?" She raised a hand and used her index finger and thumb to create a space of about an inch between them, which she looked at with a supreme pout. "I was _this_ close!" Both Kakashi and Sasuke blinked.

Kakashi's face, had it been visible, would have had a burning blush traveling quickly up from his neck to his hairline. "Oh, God…Sasuke, shut her up, please." The younger man smiled, and delivered a swift blow to the back of her neck. Kakashi sighed as she crumpled into Sasuke's arms. He took her back to her room, then came back. "Thank you. I thought I was going to get raped." Sasuke made a derisive snort.

"You can fight ten men at once, assassinate leaders of nations without blinking, and beat the crap out of Gai, but you can't handle one drunk woman? Are you out of your wits?" Sasuke's smirk was typical, but more amused than usual. Kakashi frowned.

"That's enough out of you, brat. When's the funeral?"

"Tomorrow. Noon." Sasuke lowered his eyes.

"The mission?"

"Saturday." Fists balled at Sasuke's sides. He was obviously not happy that his adoptive sister would be given so little time to grieve. But Kakashi was starting to think that she wouldn't need that much time. He was wondering if she was even in love with the man in the first place. Kakashi nodded.

"I'll see you at noon, then." He walked shakily out of the door, and didn't look back.

"Don't be late!" Sasuke's voice called after him, still less than amused. Kakashi made a rude gesture over his shoulder at Sasuke, and kept walking.

* * *

He had not been late. He had a hangover, but had stood on one side of Amaya, feeling her eyes on him from time to time, and he and Sasuke had walked with her to place flowers in front of Kabuto's picture. Kakashi had held her hand, while Sasuke held the other. Neither of them spoke about the previous night. At all.

Two days later, they left on their mission.

* * *

**A/N: **So? What did you think?

(1) inhibitchin's--this is Amaya's extremely drunk version of the word _inhibitions_. She says that hers are asleep, to which Kakashi promptly retorts that he feels that they've given up the ghost instead.


	2. Otaku

**A/N: **Okay, here's Chapter 2. I got a very negative review, and for the love of God, I usually don't care. But when the flamer does not pay enough attention to the work and rips on the author as a person...that's when it gets simply...offensive. I have never before considered deleting a review, but after a few days of agonizing, I finally caved and decided that rather than having someone get offended at the absolute raving madness that was driveled in that piece of filth masquerading as a review, I had better take it off of the review page. I myself try to be polite when giving negative comments. And I try to keep them constructive. --sigh-- If anybody wants to read said review, go to my forum, **antilogic fiction**. I still have no posts there, so I'll welcome any feedback. In this chapter, there's lots of angst! Warnings?

**Legal Stuffiness: **I do not own Naruto or any of the character therein. Kishimoto Masashi, sole proprietor.

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**Chapter 2: **Otaku

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He watched as she slept. It was nearly midnight. Kakashi saw her pale brow furrow in distress, and reached out, smoothing it with a finger and making soothing noises. She was having another of her nightmares. Tsunade had sent them too soon. He had argued against it, but the Godaime had overruled him. He had told Tsunade that Amaya needed time to rest, to heal her emotional scars. Too much had happened too quickly. Sasuke's kidnapping, her pregnancy, then Itachi's impromptu appearance and her miscarriage, finally Kabuto's death…Now, he lay in the same bed with her, trying to comfort her in the only way she would allow him to: when she didn't know he was doing it.

They were close now, but miles apart. She relied upon him, but put up barriers. He wasn't allowed to touch her for any reason, and the subject of Kabuto was taboo.

During the daylight hours, the four Jounin ran a storefront on the water, and a restaurant one street over from the store. Sasuke and Shizune sold medicines that Shizune manufactured in the shop, Sasuke providing security and haggling with customers. Amaya cooked in the restaurant, and other than bussing tables and taking orders, Kakashi was free to laze about and gather information from all of the gossip that came through the Wave Country. He also often got yelled at by Amaya. That actually got him a lot of tips from his fellow hen-pecked husbands. People came back time and time again to hear her colorful insults, but mostly to eat her food. It was, to say the least, divine. The amazing thing was that she did it all on her own, with no help.

Like at Ichiraku's, the kitchen was open, and people sometimes came just to watch the small woman cooking. During hours when they weren't busy, Kakashi would, as well. She had a kind of grace and rhythm in the kitchen that he had never seen before. Her face etched in concentration, eyes half-closed most of the time, she knew her kitchen like the back of her hand, and could probably do any of the work needed there with her eyes closed completely. Just like at their first meeting, she flowed. Her movements were liquid as she stirred soups, baked, chopped, and did any of the multitude of tasks that were necessary for cooking. A month into their mission, their restaurant, "Otaku," was the most popular in town. The men came to watch her and to eat, and the women either came with their men, or came to flirt with Kakashi. He couldn't wear his mask or forehead protector here, so he went bare-faced, and wore an eye patch. The ladies of the village said that it made him look dangerous and sexy.

When the women flirted with Kakashi, Amaya would snort and yell at him for bothering the customers. If the men flirted with Amaya, Kakashi loomed over them, cracking his knuckles or making vague threats. No one had pursued anything further. It became known that while the woman had a sense of humor about her husband's good looks and charm, Kakashi was possessive of his wife, and was willing to prove it. The arrangement worked very well. Until they closed for the day. Then, he would clean, making sure to put everything back where it belonged, and she would nearly always go upstairs and cry.

He hated it when she cried. If he came within three meters of her, he usually ended up dodging kunai. Sighing, he lay down next to her, putting his eye patch on the night table. He wished that she would try to relax around him, that there was some way for him to comfort her without getting his head or any other appendages he might want to use later cut off.

--

He was finally sleep. Amaya wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. Every night, he sat there staring at her. Every night, she was sure he was pitying her, and she didn't want his pity, damn it! Why the hell was she here? Kakashi was the one who did all of the information-gathering. She just cooked the food. Opening her eyes, she turned her head to the left, looking at his sleeping face. The angular yet soft planes were shadowed, yet highlighted by the dim light coming in through the window. His hair all but glowed in the moonlight. Then there was that scar. It was long, and it hadn't taken her long to figure out what had happened there. No one had to tell her that his eye wasn't his own. You can't just have _one_ Sharingan eye, unless someone did it to you on purpose.

For the past week, she had been staring at that scar more and more often. He never talked about it. He didn't talk about the dreams, either, but she knew he had them. Kakashi tried, in his way, to make her comfortable. She knew he tried. But it just seemed far too much like he was pitying her. As it was, she had to fling a kunai at him every time she ended up crying, because he always came over to her and tried to…hell, she didn't know _what_ he was trying to do.

She was thinking of Kabuto less often now. Was that fair? He was her husband, and she knew what was right and what wasn't. It wasn't right to stop thinking about your dead husband after only a month. That made her question things. Amaya didn't feel like she was ready for those questions. So, at closing time every day, she ran upstairs to their apartment, and she cried. At first, her tears had been for Kabuto. Now, it seemed more like they were for her. She felt guilty. She was alive, and he was dead. And she was starting to forget.

It was a long time before she fell asleep.

--

"Kakashi! Get off your ass and get more sake!" He groaned. Amaya had been especially verbose today, and she was providing entertainment for the customers by using the kitchen knives and the ladle to make him do what she wanted. He rose from his stool and blocked the ladle with one hand and then caught it in the other. He sighed, and then walked into the kitchen to give it back to her.

"Here you are, dear. Please don't use bad language in front of the customers. It's bad for business." He knew that he sounded tired. He was tired. Kakashi hadn't slept a wink last night. Not long after he lay down, he noticed that she was awake. Awake and watching him. Had she been awake before, when he tried to soothe her? If she had been, then he was in for it. Kakashi knew that touching her was off-limits. He walked to the back of the small restaurant and got two more jugs of sake. "How much is needed now, Amaya-chan?"

"One."

So much for her being verbose. She never did like being set down, so maybe that was it. He warmed up the sake, and brought out cups for the customers. They thanked him, and slipped him a tip and a sympathetic look. He smiled at them and pocketed the money. Retreating to his stool in the corner, he watched Amaya cooking. Her hair was pulled back into a thick knot on the back of her head, as usual, and a few wispy strands were escaping it on the sides. Her face was tense as she drained water from yet another pot of udon.

Nearly six hours later, Kakashi shooed the last of the custom out, and locked the doors, drew the shades, and turned off the stove. Amaya made a move to go to the stairs. Kakashi caught her arm. He knew he shouldn't have, but he didn't want her crying. "Why do you cry?" He asked, not really looking at her.

"My husband died."

"Hn. You loved him?" Amaya moved so that she was standing directly in front of him, her dark eyes burning into his. She reached up and yanked off his eye patch.

"Look at me. Look into my _eyes_, Kakashi. What do you see? What do you think?" He did as she asked. He saw anger, and something he couldn't readily name. But grief? He didn't see that.

"You don't want me to tell you what I see, Amaya. You'll want to hit me."

"Try me, asshole."

He bristled at that. He never called her anything other than what he was supposed to. But she had the nerve to call him that? "Fine." His tone was acid. "I think you're scared. You're guilty. And you're pissing me the fuck off. Now, are you going to stop pitying yourself and get on with your life, or are you going to kill yourself slowly with your crying?" Her hand trembled, and it drew back, but he didn't care what she was about to do. She slapped him. "Told you you'd want to hit me, didn't I?" His lips twisted into an angry smirk.

Amaya wrenched her arm away from him and pushed him against the counter, pulling a kunai and pressing it to his throat hard enough to draw a small trickle of blood. "Hatake Kakashi, I'm warning you right now. If you fuck with me, I'll make your life a living hell. Don't presume that you know anything about me."

His hand rose slowly, his mismatched eyes never leaving hers as he took hold of her wrist. "It isn't presumption, Amaya. I know you. Do I need to remind you of the day Kabuto died? About what you said? Do I?" She flinched as if he'd struck her. "You ignore what you did. You ignore what you said. I can't touch you, even to help you up if you fall. Isolation isn't good for you. Why won't you let me help you?" He watched her eyes seething. Once more, he was reminded of the blood-spattered image she presented in the depths of Orochimaru's hideaway, just before she'd passed out. It wasn't the anger that reminded him of that moment. It was the utter anguish and desperation that hid behind it.

Kakashi flung her hand away from him and pushed past her to the stairs, picking his eye patch up from the floor on the way. He cursed under his breath as he climbed all the way to the roof, locking the access door behind him. He was sure she wouldn't follow him, but he wanted to be sure he would be alone. There was a bit of training equipment up here, with a couple large blocks of wood, and some weights. He walked to the largest wood block, and started hammering it with his fists. The soft _thwack_ of his bare fists hitting the wood sounded over the rooftops, and in a very few minutes, red stained the wood, his knuckles bleeding, dripping, dribbling the redness over his fingers and onto the slate roof tiles.

--

Shizune shook her head at Kakashi. "Kakashi-niichan, what did you do?" She looked at his hands, and then to Sasuke. "Get me some antiseptic, cotton balls, and the tweezers. Bandages, too." He had splinters embedded in his hands, and abrasions, and one big gash. "What happened?"

"I touched her."

Sasuke set the things she had requested on the table. "You should know better than that, Kakashi. She said not to, didn't she?" The man nodded. "Haven't you learned by now?"

"She pissed me off." He explained to them what had happened, and Shizune's eyebrows tried to climb into her hairline.

Dabbing the antiseptic onto his left hand, she said, "So you don't think she ever really loved him, do you?" The silver-haired man started, obviously surprised by her observation. "What about you, Sasuke?"

Sasuke shrugged. "They were friendly enough. Damned well had a hell of a lot more sex than most people. But other than that, it seemed to mostly be her trying to be what Kabuto wanted her to be." Shizune thought about this for a few moments. She hadn't really known Kabuto very well, though they worked together at the hospital. Amaya had been a friend, but she didn't get the chance to see the two of them together that often.

Sasuke had told her about the way he'd found Amaya and Kakashi. The woman obviously had her issues to work out, but Shizune wondered why on earth she jumped him. Kakashi was cute, but it would take more than Shizune getting shit-faced to make her that easy. She started pulling the splinters, and Kakashi winced. "Stop being such a baby. It can't hurt that much."

"Yes it can."

--

**A/N:** Grrr. The stupid upload manager is still broken. It won't let me add the division bars, so you get my double-dashes instead. Hope you like the chapter. and as far as I'm concerned, if you flame, you can bite me. If the person who flamed the first chapter read the second, you can actually kiss something that I don't show in public very often. Other readers may enjoy it, so if you want to express your displeasure, do it in a way that won't offend them. Thank you very much. Out.


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